Method for decohering solid substances



Patented s. 12, 1932 Lggp rras r i PIERRE GUSTAVE MARIE ADOLPHE PIG-ACHE, OF PARIS, FRANCE METHOD FOR DECOHERING SOLID SUBSTANCES No Drawing. Application filed June 23, 1928, Serial No. 287,899, and in France (time 2?, 192?.

The present invention has for its primary the decohered or very finely disintegrated eleobject to provide a method for decohering ments may be sorted out according to their solid substances whereby it becomes possible degree of fineness, the high fluidity of the to divide and disintegrate them to an exmedium permitting to carry out this sorting 5 tremely finely powdered state adapted to operation by decantation, by chemical, mag

give rise by a dispersive or dispelling process netic (electrophoresis) or centrifugal precipiin non-soluble or substantially non-soluble tation or by any other suitable separating media to colloidal solutions. process or a combination of such separating A further object of the invention is to proprocesses. The recuperation of the finest i0 vide a decohering method that can be apparticles which are liable to remain in'suspene0 plied to a large number of bodies, materials sion almost indefinitely despite any separator substances, for example to pigments or ing process is efi'ected by boiling the Water colors which thus acquire a considerable covofi or by filtration or by a chemical, magnetic ering and tinctorial efiiciency, to catalysts or or centrifugal precipitation, or else by any 15 other chemical reagents, to pharmaceutical other separating process or combination of compositions which can thus be assimilated said processes. As a resulting material, a more readily by the human organism, to norsediment formed of decohered elements is obmally non-soluble or hardly soluble bodies tained. The solid material which is still inwhich can thus be dissolved and thereafter suificiently disintegrated may be submitted 59 obtained in the crystallized state, to graphite to a further treatment whereby no appreciwhich thus acquires a considerable lubricatable quantity of said material is lost. ing and coloring eificiency and, after being Assuming the attrition process tohave been purified, washed and desiccated adetonating carried out with sufficient care, the clear power when mixed with an oxidizing agent, aqueous liquid that is collected after all the 35 and more generally to all materials which it solid elements have been sorted out still conis desirable to obtain in an extremely finely tains a certain (variable) proportion of the divided state or in solution. solid substance that was considered as sub- With these and such other objects in view stantially non-soluble in said liquid. as will appear hereafter, the invention is By desiccating the non-decanted paste or characterized by the features that. will now the sediment of decohered grains or elements 30 be fully set forth. that have been recuperated after the decanta- Broadly expounded, the decohering methtion-the desiccation being more or less comodaccording to the invention is characterized pl t d b i d d, accompanied or I by the step of grinding, pulver zing, dl followed by an admixture of selected matetegl'ating e q Substances to bqdecoherefl rials such as oil, glycerine, alcohol or such and of submlttmg them to a contmuous other materials as are capable of limiting or attrition Process in i f g' i the desiccation, displacing water or facilitatii li i 9 y e ing the miscibility of the particles in the new CD 01 S CO 01 ma ena S avmg dispersion mediuma mass is obtained which persive properties in aqueous media. it is 0 n1 g y necessary triturate 1n the presence When the tnturatlon or attntlon process of a suitable dispersive agent (and eventuyields sufliciently fine particles the plastic or tacky paste obtained may be either diluted any Wlth the 31d heat Vacuum) to cause in water or in an aqueous medium or diluted the decohered grams 9 elements to be F in a non-aqueous medium or else allowed to ,ferred from 9 med 1l1m to @Ilother Wlthout d more -1 l t l or otherwise its characterlstics being modified. Thus for arated for example by centrifugation. pl f a l 13 treated; 111 VleW of By. diluting the paste thus obtained by trirendering 1t apt to the preparatlon of water turation or attrition in an aqueous medium, pa1nts,1t Wlll suffice to incorporate gum, gly the hydrophile colloid is dispersed whereby erine or any other analogous material to the m sediment withoutresorting to a previous desiccation.

By decomposing, dissolving or eliminating the colloid, the decohered elements are precipitated and become easy to purify whereby the materials can be recuperated in an extremely divided state and also in a state that is more sensitive to physical or chemical treatment and which shows more definite characteristics. v 7

Although the scope of the invention involves the use of any hydrophile colloid or any group of such colloids,the following ones may be advantageously used, namely: gelatines including gelatine-peptones and peptonized gelatines, isinglass, egg albumens, fibrine, agar agar, gummy materials such as gum arabic, egg yolk, geloses, albuminoidal matters, hydrocelluloses, oxicelluloses, and so on.

With a view to shortening. the treatment or facilitating the hydrophile constitution of the colloid or preventing it from becoming putrid or giving same more resistance to a high temperature when it is in its normal dispersion or dilution medium or better adapting it to the prevailing physical or chemical conditions or for any other reason, it may be desirable to admix the colloid in one or more batches. Further,'to the colloidal medium having volumetrically expansible (swelling) or dispersive characteristics there may be added either before or after treating the substance a certain quantity of-a material not capable of modifying the aqueous nature of the medium such for instance as nitric, picric, oxalic or salicylic acid, chromium salts, formaldehyde, chloral,vnaphthol, dyes, etc. Thus a basic or acid reaction ma be imparted thereto by adding an acid or abase compound or some compound adapted to react on the'medium so as to evolve an acid or a base, or else the putrefaction may be merely left to freely take place. A solid material more or less refractory to the decohering process may also be admixed for the purpose of enhancing the mechanical stresses required for decohering inasmuch as the decohering action is always due to the combined action of the solid substance and hydrophile colloid.

The expression hydrophile colloid which repeatedly occurs in the present specification must be construedas involving whatever colloids are capable of volumetrically expanding (swelling) or colloidally becoming dispersed in an a ueous medium whereas the expression lyophile colloid refers to the colloids that can expand or become dispersed in an organic medium.

In the light of this distinction, it should be noted that if such a colloid as gelatine may be regarded as hydrophile (in water) and lyophile (in glycerine) it is only involved as hydrophile according to the invention sofar as the attrition treatment is considered but not so far as the subsequent dispersion is considered inasmuch as substances treated with hydrophile colloids can be dispersed or transferred in any normally non-dispersive medium. However, the admixture of the decohering medium and a certain proportion of an organic body in the presence of which the colloid is liable to show lyophile properties is involved in the invention insofar as said organic body does not essentially act by its solvent properties.

Without limiting the invention to any particular procedure, the following examples in which parts by weight are given illustrate preferred embodiments of the improved method fordecohering solid substances and utilizing the decohered elements.

Example I.P1'epamti0n; of graphitz'c mineral owl-The graphite to be disintegrated and decohered by the method according to the invention is advantageously disintegrated in a mixture of the following ingredients, forming an aqueous colloidal solution:

The use of an anti-putrifying "agent is not always required. On the contrary, the pres ence of glycerine or oil seems to promote the dispersion in oil after desiccation in the atmosphere at the ambient temperature since it prevents the colloid from being completely dried up.

Obviously the glycerine, the oil or any other material having the same effect may be admixed either together with the colloid or during or at the end of the attrition process, or afterwards, or admixed to the sediment to be desiccated. Such a dilution even if the quantity of graphite treated is only equal to one gram to one liter of clear yellow oil gives a thoroughly black liquid which possesses a high lubricating power which resists heat generated in machine parts during operation particularly at high operative speeds.

Example ll.-Prepamtion of hyd 1' 0 phz'le paints.-The pigments are ground or submitted to an attrition process together with a hydrophile colloid and optionally with an aseptic material or "lycerine, oranother material or formaldehyde or phenol. Depending on whether the pigment is to be prepared with more or less care, the sediment may first be sorted or alternatively it may be treated as it leaves the triturator or disintegrator. Finally the pigment is treated as usual with a gumsyrup or any equivalent glutinous or syrupy substance as is commonly used by paint manufacturers.

Ear-ample I I .Pre;0amtion of colored, al-

cohol, oil 01' cell-ulosic -varnisl zes.The pigment may be treated by any one of the aforesaid processes and will in general be more or ieeaeei less completely desiccated and incorporated to the new medium. Incertain cases, it may be advantageous to treat the pigment in an oxicellulosic or hydrocel'lulosic aqueous solution which, for the purpose of more readily expanding or swelling the colloid, may contain a certain quantity of ammoniacal copper oxide, the cellulose being thereafter converted into acetate, butyrate or nitrate of cellulose.

'lh'us the beginning of the process is efiected in hydrophile conditions which are cheap since an aqueous medium is used while the end at it is efi'ected in lyophile conditions, after the chemical conversion has taken place.

' :As aforesaid, the method according to the invention may be successfully applied to the preparation of numerous products and other 20. illustrative examples of same might be given.

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It will also be appreciated that the operative conditions of the method may vary.

Thus for example the introduction of the colloid or colloids in one or several batches,

the proportions of said colloids to the quantity of solid substance treated, etc. may vary to suit practical requirements. With regard to the said proportions, it should be observed however that too small a proportion of col- 80 loid does not give the decohering process enough eficiency and that, on the contrary,

\ too large a proportion of colloid lubricates so to speak the substance under treatment exceedingly and ofiers the same disadvantage. The most suitable proportions of colloids to be employed may be empirically indicated by stating that it should when admixed to the divided solid substance to be decohered give a plastic paste which at the beginning of the 4&0 operation is slightly hard and gradually becomes soiter and tacky. The practical proportions for the three constituents of the .paste to be treated: divided solid substance, colloid and aqueous'liquid may be determined from the foregoing remarks.

All such variations are intended to be ineluded in the scope of the subjoined claims. As indicated in Example No. 1, the amount of hydrosilcolloidshould be about 4.3% of the weight of the solid substances being treated but as stated the usual range of variationof this amount is comprehended to accord with the substance treated.

Whatlclaimis: 1. The method of disintegrating and decohering solid substances for enabling them to be colloidally dispersed in media in which they are substantially non-soluble, comprisb ing the step of submitting said substances in 6 a finely divided or powdered state to continuous attrition in the presence of a prok'tective hydrophile colloid suitably-dispersed an aqueous medium, the colloid being pres $5 ent in an amount of substantially 4.3% of the solid substance and having the propertyof thickening the mass to the desired degree during the attrition into a highly viscous paste to thereby increase the mutual triturating action of the particles of the said substances and to effect a colloidal dispersion of some oi said particles in said paste. T

2. The-process stated in claim 1 wherein the colloid is gelatine.

3. Theprocess statedin claim 1 wherein the substance is powdered graphite and the colloid is gelatine.

In testimony whereof I aifix' my signature.

MERRE GUSTAVE MARIE ADM-PHE- PIGACHE. 

